The Irresistible Force
by ayahsad167
Summary: Will Phineas remain oblivious forever? Not if a certain Fireside girl has something to say about it. What happens when Isabella invites Phineas to the movies...alone? Well, a lot of things, actually...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, random reader. I probably don't know you, but I know that you're awesome. Why? Because you're reading this story, that's why XD. Anyways...I'm planning on updating this story every week, so stay tuned for more. And many thanks to PianoMan5 for Beta-ing this fic.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Phineas and Ferb.**

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For years, philosophers have pondered the answer to a seemingly unsolvable conundrum: what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? A difficult question for anyone to answer, but what if the circumstances where different? What if the immovable object was **totally unaware **of the irresistible force? What then?

The relationship between Phineas Flynn and Isabella Garcia-Shapiro is a perfect manifestation of this question. Isabella, the cutest girl on two separate worlds, is irresistible to everyone. Everyone except for Phineas. The boy remains unaware of Isabella's affection because has a powerful weapon of his own: his obliviousness. And a weapon that has stymied the efforts of Isabella numerous times is immovable indeed.

So, what will happen when they take a trip to the movie theater together? Will the irresistible force prevail, or will the immovable object remain adamant? Well, read on to find out...

Chapter One

"Phineas, hurry up, the movie's about to start!"

Phineas hastily walked through the dark movie theater, straddling a huge bucket of popcorn in one arm and two drinks in the other. Weaving around straggling patrons as he walked up the dimly lit aisle, he finally managed to wiggle his way into the seat next to Isabella's.

"Phew! Just made it. I thought the movie started already," Phineas said as he handed her a drink.

"Nope, you came just in time. It's just previews so far."

"Good, cause I don't wanna miss a second! They say this Space Adventure movie is the best one yet, and there's a new character from the comic strips in this one that's introduced too! Plus, Clive Addison said himself that the special effects are gonna be crazy! Aren't you excited?"

Isabella sighed dreamily. Of course she was excited, but it wasn't because of the movie. She could care less about robots and hyperspace ships and interstellar politics. All she cared about right now was the boy sitting next to her.

_Time to put my plan into action,_ Isabella thought. Putting on an adorable face and batting her eyelids, the cutest creature in the universe prepared to charm the boy next to her.

"I'm _really_ excited to be here. I mean, just you and me, alone, in the dark...Isn't this nice?"

Phineas scratched his head. "Well, not really. I mean, the lights will only be out for a couple of hours..."

Isabella did a double-take. "Wait, what're you talking about?"

"You said 'Isn't it nice being alone in the dark?'. I just answered you..." Phineas trailed off, looking at her like _she _was the one who was missing something.

Isabella just looked at him with disbelief. Only Phineas had the skill to misinterpret something so completely. _Just one of his many talents,_she thought wryly.

_Let's try this again_. "So Phineas...We're sitting here...alone..."

"You've established that..." Phineas said slowly.

"Well, don't you know what they say about a boy and a girl when they're alone together? How _romantic_ it is?" Isabella had pitched Phineas the ball: now all he had to do was connect.

"Wait a minute, you lost me. How is it possible for a boy and a girl to be alone and together at the same time? Don't you think that statement's a bit oxymoronic?"

Steee-rike!

"It's not about the word choice, Phineas," Isabella said with just a tad of exasperation. "It's about the _principle_. Didn't you hear what I said about romance?"

"Romance?" Phineas spoke the word like a tourist in a foreign country trying out a new phrase in a different language. "What're you implying?"

"Oh, never mind!" Isabella sat back with a disgruntled look on her face and crossed her arms over her chest. Conversations with Phineas tended to end up this way: Isabella frustrated and Phineas scratching his head.

Isabella's angry dismissal succeeded in ending the conversation. The pair sat in silence, sitting through a couple minutes of boring theatrical trailers and waiting for the movie to begin. Isabella took a sip of her drink, moodily mulling over her Phineas-related quandary.

It was amazing how such conflicted emotions arose whenever she was in Phineas' presence. Countless unwitting rejections, unrequited gestures of affection, and hours of moping about Phineas' obliviousness were often the results of conversations with the redheaded inventor, but yet Isabella still hadn't given up hope. She just couldn't help strong feelings that came with the mention of his name.

Phineas was just so..._Phineas_. Everyone knew that he was smart and gifted, remarkably talented with a drill and even more so with a sheet of blueprint paper in front of him. Those qualities didn't weren't the ones that drew Isabella to him, though. It was his happiness, his unending optimism, his incessant need to make the lives of others around him better, that really made her swoon. It was like his day wasn't complete until he had made somebody around him happy.

Isabella's mood involuntarily lifted as more and more thoughts of Phineas came to her. His hair that was a shade between orange and fiery red, the adorable way his eyebrows scrunched up when he was deep in thought...

And just like that, Isabella's bad mood was gone and she was off in Phineas Land. That was another thing that Isabella found unique about Phineas. The boy who was the inadvertent cause of her frustration was also the resolution of it. A bit paradoxical, but that was Phineas for you.

Said boy, on the other hand, was puzzling over a different issue. Something strange that Isabella had said during their earlier conversation had stood out to him, and no matter how hard he tried to dismiss it and return his attention to Space Adventures, that thought kept distracting him.

He debated sharing his question with Isabella, but for some reason this notion made him inexplicably nervous.

Finally he worked up the nerve to speak up. "Isabella?" he said nervously, pulling at his collar. The girl to his left jerked a bit in surprise and turned her attention to him. The eye contact temporarily made him regret speaking up, but he forced himself to finish voicing his thoughts. "What were you talking about earlier?"

"Huh? When earlier?" Isabella replied, confused by his seemingly random question.

"You know...when you were talking about romance and being alone and all that. 'Cause it seemed like you were...well...I kinda got the impression that you were talking about...uh...something-something about...us..." Phineas trailed off into silence, but Isabella got the gist of what he was about to say.

She was, in a word, gobsmacked. Phineas had actually _noticed?_Phineas the oblivious realized that she had been flirting? Still surprised, Isabella observed his body language. He couldn't seem to meet her eyes, his right hand was playing with his collar, and his left arm was twitching on the armrest. Needless to say, this was uncharacteristic of the normally self assured boy.

_Could it be...? _An ecstatic, almost wicked grin spread across Isabella's face, and a feeling of delight washed away the remnants of her agitation. _Maybe he's (*squeal*) finally coming around!_

She decided to test out her theory before she jumped to conclusions. There were many times in the past that she had gotten her hopes up, only to be left utterly disappointed.

Isabella scooted as close to Phineas as the armrest would allow and leaned towards him, near enough to evoke discomfort. "Talking about what, Phineas?" She gave him a smile more radiant than a full moon and fluttered her eyelashes a bit. Maybe she _was_ overdoing it a bit, but she had to see if her overt flirtation would elicit a response from Phineas.

"I-". Unfortunately, it was at this moment that Murphy's Law decided to make its presence known. A maniacal screech went up in the theater, louder than a school bell and even more dangerous to the ears.

"IT'S STARTING! IT'S FINALLY STARTING! YES! YES! YES!"

Dumb with disbelief at the horribly timed interruption, Isabella hoped desperately that the loud alert hadn't put an end to Phineas' intention to share his thoughts.

No such luck. As soon as the crazed voice ended its shriek, Phineas abruptly stopped speaking and turned towards the screen with an excited look on his face, totally forgetting that he had just been conversing with Isabella seconds earlier.

It would have been accurate to compare Isabella to a steam kettle at that moment. At the moment she was calm. Unmoving. Unthinking. An unknowing onlooker might have mistaken her mood for serenity. Isabella sat in rejection for two minutes, unaware of the opening credits, of the introduction, of the famous Space Adventures music score.

Then, the anger set in. Slowly, like lava crawling down the side of a volcano, Isabella's ire built up like a fire. Her fists clenched slowly, her jaw clenched, and her body began to tremble. _WHAT THE HECK! Of all the times to interrupt, the idiot chose THAT moment to do it! I mean, how cliché can you get?!_

Phineas had been so close to coming around, but then that..._person_had screamed away Isabella's chance of getting a confession of love from Phineas

Ok, maybe she was being a bit unrealistic, but Isabella could hardly be blamed. For the first time in forever it had seemed like Phineas was coming around. It was understandable for her hindsight to be optimistic, given the circumstances.

She couldn't remain bitter for long, though. Not while in the presence of Phineas. Isabella glanced at him. The embodiment of obliviousness sat in a catatonic state, jaw open and on the edge of his seat, completely captivated by the movie. _I wish he looked at _me_ like that_, Isabella thought wistfully.

With a dreamy sigh, the Fireside Girls' troop leader took in the boy next to her. It was strangely hypnotic looking at Phineas, his features lit from the glow of the screen. The dim light accentuated the allure of his features, especially his eyes. They were even more entrancing reflecting the images on the screen. Isabella could make out distorted images from the movie-

And suddenly, Phineas' eyes were reflecting something much different than the images on the screen. Without warning, his head snapped in Isabella's direction with the speed of a viper. She was so totally caught off guard that she couldn't even _pretend_ that she was staring at something else.

"Isabella, what are you doing?"

"I...I was..." Isabella couldn't even get out a sentence. _He caught me STARING at him! And not just staring, OGLING him. He must think that I'm creepy or something! _

"How come you're looking at me like that?" Phineas asked questioningly.

Isabella's face heated up as she realized that she was _still_ staring at him. She quickly turned away from him, staring straight ahead at the screen. Her embarrassment was growing by the second, made even worse by the fact that Phineas was still looking her way.

Isabella glanced quickly at Phineas and then back at the screen, desperately trying to quash the redness on her face. "I was...well, I was...looking at you."

"Well, obviously, but why?" Phineas expression was that of absolute bewilderment and confusion, at a loss for any possible reason for why his best friend was staring at him. "I mean...am I really that fascinating?"

Isabella looked at Phineas in shock. _Did he just say that? _Observing his features, she could discern no hint of sarcasm or jokery. Isabella laughed to herself. Phineas had actually figured it out, but somehow he had managed to figure out the reason for Isabella's enthrallment without realizing the obvious answer to _why_ she was captivated by him.

_His obliviousness has reached new heights._ Isabella actually chuckled out loud at the thought. Once more, Phineas had done the impossible._If he's actually this oblivious..._

She entertained the thought of making up some unbelievable excuse that Phineas would inevitably believe, but for once she decided to just answer his question truthfully. "Yes, Phineas. Yes you are."

If Isabella hadn't been in such a delicate situation, she might have found it mildly hilarious to see the changes of expressions that the redhead's face was undergoing. From confusion to nervousness, Phineas tried desperately to figure out what was going on with his friend. He was one variable away from figuring out the complicated equation that would explain her behavior, but the clear answer evaded him endlessly.

The one thing he didn't need was another confusing action directed his way, but that's exactly what Isabella gave him.

"So Phineas," she said so sweetly that it was unbearable, "are _you_fascinated by _me_?"

Phineas couldn't even begin to try to think of a response. This was just too much for the poor boy. He was already distressed enough, but the breaking point came when he felt Isabella stroke his arm.

Under normal circumstances Phineas would never had considering doing what he was about to do, but the events of the day had addled him to the extreme. The culmination of emotions, the confusion, the anxiety, the strange turning of his stomach, finally made him snap.

In a quick motion, Phineas harshly shrugged Isabella's hand off his arm. "Look, Isabella, I don't what's going on with you, but just...stop! The looks, the questions, the closeness... I-You keep doing all _this_ to me-" He gestured wildly with his hands. "And I can't take it! Do you know how confusing this is? Just...stop!"

As soon as he had uttered these words Phineas regretted what he had just done. His split second reaction to Isabella's actions may have been spur-of-the-moment, but it was too late to change anything now. The damage had been done, and now all he could do was hope that she wasn't too mad.

And then he looked at her expression and his hope died.

The look on Isabella's face was just too distraught to describe. Her expression was the epitome of despair. Her mouth hung slightly in shock, her hands hung limply at her sides. The normally cheerful look on her face was gone, killed off faster than a bird at the hands of a wolf. The worst part, though, was how she looked ar him. There was no anger, no condemning, no sadness, just...nothing. It was like all the fire in her was gone.

With a horrible feeling of guilt rising in him, Phineas tried to rectify the damage he had done. "Look, Isabella, I didn't mean to say all that, I was just-"

Phineas found he couldn't continue. Isabella just kept staring at him with that expression. Her blue eyes were like stones, inanimate, dull, motionless.

After an eternity, Isabella broke eye contact with him. With stiff, mechanical movements, Isabella stood up out of her seat. Without even looking at him she walked past his chair and all the way down the aisle.

With a look of despair Phineas rushed after her, ignoring the movie, ignoring the popcorn and drinks that had been left behind, ignoring the looks of annoyance that he was getting for disrupting the movie, ignoring everything but Isabella. Irony really did have a way of manifesting itself at the worst times.

Phineas continued his pursuit of Isabella as she walked out of the theater, grimacing at the sudden change of light. He weaved through the few people that stood in the theater lobby until he finally caught up with her.

"Isabella, wait! I-".

Isabella whipped around to face Phineas, and he was shocked. She was crying. Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, strong spirited, indomitable leader of Fireside Girls troop number 46231, was crying. Her eyes were red and tears were running down her cheeks, silently falling to the ground. An intense sense of wrongness shot through Phineas painfully, so sharp that he felt tears start to form.

"You what, Phineas?" Her tone wasn't accusatory or condemning or angry. The only thing that was present in Isabella's tone was sadness. Infinite sadness, and something else that he had some trouble identifying until it came to him. Resignation. It looked like she had given up on something, or rather, given up on him.

The normally cheerful boy was rooted to the spot with guilt, horribly aware that he had done something terribly wrong. He didn't realize the full extent of his mistake, but judging from the look on Isabella's face, it would take more than an apology to make reparations.

All he could do was look at her, trying to think of something to say to make things better, but any words of apology he tried to formulate died before he attempted to utter them.

After an eternity Isabella finally turned away. Phineas was seized with a panic-like urge. Desperately he grabbed her hand, hoping that the gesture would do something to console Isabella, knowing all the same that it was probably useless.

Sadly, his prediction was right. Without even a backwards glance Isabella softly, almost delicately, broke the contact between the two and continued walking. Helplessly Phineas' gaze followed her she continued to walk away from him until finally, with a feeling that felt even deeper than sadness, he followed her out of the theater.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, you! I knew that you wouldn't be able to resist reading more ;D. I've kept true to my promise of a weekly update, so you better thank me with reviews! Betad by PianoMan5.**

**Disclaimer: I can't think of anything clever, so...I don't PnF. End of story.**

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Chapter Two

The walk home from the theater in the wake of the events that had just transpired was by far the most awkward ten minutes of Phineas' life. He was following a few feet behind Isabella, but she was so distant and silent that it felt like they weren't even walking together.

Their feet trudged across the sidewalk in synchronized scrapes and left soft echoes of footsteps in their wakes. Twice Phineas contemplated breaking the wall of verbal silence, and twice he found that he didn't have it in him.

_Isabella probably doesn't even want me to talk to me anyways. After what happened in there.._. Phineas grimaced as he recalled his actions towards his friend.

_How could I be so harsh? _he thought with a wince. Recalling the look on Isabella's face just made him feel even more distressed._And the worst part is I have no idea how to make her feel better._

Their slow progress continued for what seemed like hours, until finally, blissfully, the familiar sight of the children's respective houses came into view. Phineas felt tremendously relieved at the thought of going home and retreating from this whole situation, and yet a feeling of guilt that couldn't be ignored flowed through him at the thought of leaving Isabella so distraught.

"Isabella..." Phineas said hesitantly.

She turned oh-so-slowly in his direction, her face as expressive as a blank canvas.

"I'm sorry for earlier. I-I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, it was just...". Phineas trailed off awkwardly, hoping that the message he was trying to convey to her was understood.

Isabella's solid expression quavered a bit at his words before reverting back to stoicy. "I understand, Phineas." Judging from the downcast way that she said this, his apology was accepted, but he wasn't forgiven. She blinked rapidly and broke eye contact with him, quickly turning back around and walking to her house. He gazed forlornly after her as she opened the unlocked door to her house with and entered, shutting the door softly.

Phineas sighed wearily and turned away. With a heavy heart he despondently began walking to his own home, feet dragging and head sagging. Entering his home, he mumbled an emotionless greeting to his parents before heading upstairs to the room he shared with Ferb.

Pushing open the door, he observed the prone figure of his brother, lying on his bed and reading a well used copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

"Hey Ferb."

The green-haired boy looked up in surprise at his brother. Raising an eyebrow, he gestured to the clock and then back to Phineas.

For the first time it occurred to him that he had left with Isabella right in the middle of Space Adventures. Honestly, though, he didn't care anymore. He was too concerned about his friend to worry about missing the film. "Me and Isabella left the movie early," he explained.

Ferb's eyes widened slightly. "What happened?"

Phineas sighed and flopped down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I don't know, Ferb. The whole experience was really strange. Isabella was acting really weird the whole time we were there. At first she was being nice and friendly to me, but then she got kind of upset, and then she was really friendly again...it was weird."

Phineas paused for a bit and looked curiously at Ferb, who was now smiling at him sardonically and shaking his head, chuckling a bit.

"What's so funny?" Phineas asked cluelessly. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, I was just wondering exactly _how _friendly Isabella was being to you. I mean, we're talking about the same Isabella that's always been your friend, right Phineas?"

If Phineas didn't know better, he might have thought that there was a hint of teasing in Ferb's voice.

"She's not usually as friendly as she was today, Ferb. I mean, this was just _different _somehow, more...I don't know, like..." He trailed off nervously, hesitant to use the word that had come to mind.

Ferb just stared at him, looking slightly amused. "And how, may I ask, did you respond to Isabella's...friendliness?"

"That's just the thing, I didn't know how to react! First she was blinking a lot, then she moved really close to me. And then..." The hesitation in his voice was evident.

Ferb made a "go on" gesture with his hand.

"She said that I was _fascinating_. Fascinating, Ferb! And it wasn't like "that's some nice art!" fascination. It was...more. And then she put her hand on me and asked if I thought _she_ was fascinating! It made me panic and get all nervous, and then I just lost it and yelled at her."

Gone was the look of slight amusement from Ferb's face. A trepidatious grimace now skewed the normally placid face of the preteen.

"What...exactly...did you say, Phineas..."

"I-I told her to stop doing...all that stuff, and I kinda sorta said that I didn't like it. I didn't know what else to say, Ferb! She was making me so nervous, and that was the first thing that crossed my mind to do."

Ferb sat there quietly with no expression present on his face, but Phineas knew his brother well enough to sense that he was troubled.

"How did Isabella react?" Ferb asked wearily.

Phineas sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "She got really quiet, and then she just got up and left right in middle of the movie. I tried to tell her how sorry I was, but she just...well, she _accepted_ it, but it didn't have any effect on her."

The green-haired man of action shook his head silently with an expression Phineas couldn't quite place, but he said nothing more. With no response, the conversation lapsed into silence. Ferb sat on his bed, looking out the window contemplatively, while Phineas turned thoughts around in his head like a cement mixer, recounting the days earlier events. There was one question in particular that was burning in his mind, and Phineas couldn't think of any reasonable answer to it.

"Hey Ferb?"

A turn in his direction, eyebrow raised questioningly.

"There's one thing I don't get. Why do you think Isabella was so upset? I know that I was harsh to her, but something like that usually wouldn't make her so...distraught, I guess. She's so just so tough, and I never would've thought that me yelling at her would make her cry."

Ferb, usually so stoic and unexpressive, had his jaw agape in an expression of shock. He slowly blinked three times in disbelief. "You think that Isabella's so hurt because you _yelled_ at her?"

"Um...Isn't it obvious? Why else would she be so upset?" Phineas asked cluelessly.

"Because Isabella's-" Ferb had to stop himself mid-sentence before he said something that would regret later. He sighed. "Because your opinion means more to her than anybody else's does."

"It does?"

"Phineas, don't act like the same thing doesn't apply for you."

"That's not true! I hold all of my friends' opinions in equal value."

"Ok, then," Ferb said. "I have a question. Let's say...Baljeet...said he didn't want to speak to you ever again. What would be your reaction?"

He frowned. "I'd try to-"

Ferb interjected before Phineas could continue. "Now, what if Isabella said she never wanted to speak to you? Then how would you feel?"

The redhead's expression changed from worry to unadulterated horror in 2 seconds flat and he immediately responded with frenetic babblings. "That- that would be the worst...I can't even imagine..." Phineas trailed off sheepishly as he realized how frantically he was reacting to the hypothetical situation (not to mention how crazy he sounded).

"See what I'm saying?" Ferb prodded. "Look at how much differently you reacted to those two scenarios. You were rather concerned with the idea of Baljeet ignoring you, but you were _terrified_ at the thought of never speaking to Isabella again! Now can you imagine how you made her feel today?"

A look of understanding passed across Phineas' face. "Oh man. I can't believe I didn't see just how badly I messed up!"

Ferb felt a little prick of guilt. _Imagine how he'll feel when he finds out the whole truth._Once again he felt the urge to tell his brother what Isabella was really upset about, but he quickly vaporized that thought. _Isabella will tell him the truth when she's ready. Or rather, when Phineas is ready._

Meanwhile, it seemed that Ferb's explanation had sparked an epiphany. "I need to fix this!" Phineas exclaimed. Bouncing up from his bed, he darted over to the desk where both boys kept the drafting utensils. In one moment Phineas' demeanor had changed from downcast to energetic.

"Phineas…" Ferb said slowly. "What, exactly, are you planning?"

"You made me realize what I need to do, Ferb!" He didn't even look up from his current task, which was gathering all the materials he used for drawing out blueprints.

Ferb's stomach suddenly felt inexplicably heavy. _Uh-oh..._

"Aha!" Phineas exclaimed, holding up a drafting pencil in one hand and a roll of blueprint paper in the other. The optomistic boy had regained his usual excitement. His eyes were shining with anticipation, his smile wide and bright. "By the time I'm finished, Isabella will forget that today ever happened!"

And before Ferb could even get another word in, Phineas bolted out the room.

Ferb groaned and shook his head. Because of him, Phineas was now determined to do something that was probably big, extravagant, and totally unnecessary because he thought that's what Isabella would want to make her feel better. And unless Phineas' big idea involved a confession of love, this was bound to turn out less than fantastic.

There was no point telling him that now, though. Once a Big Idea was born inside the inventors' mind, there was no deterring him.

_Well, Phineas,_ Ferb thought resignedly,_Whatever you're doing...it had better be good_.

~•~•~•~•~

"I'm _hoooo_ommme!" Candace's loud shout echoed through the Flynn-Fletcher house. If that had failed to alert the family of her presence, the sound of the door slamming and her loud footsteps through the living room would have served as a suitable announcement of her arrival.

"We're in the kitchen, honey," her mom called out.

With a loud sigh, Candace trudged over to the kitchen and plopped down at the table.

"Hey guys," Candace groaned.

Her dad looked up from his newspaper and smiled at her. "Hello, Candace. I must say, you seem rather fatigued."

"Ugh, I'm so _tirrrred_. I have, like, no energy."

"Well, isn't that a change!" Linda said a bit dryly at her daughters dramatics. "So, honey, how was the day at Jeremy's?"

"Well, _that_ part of the visit was great! We talked and stuff, then we had a picnic, and then I watched him practice with his band. It was so _romantic_..."

"Well, Candace, it sounds like you had a nice time. I still don't get how all of this..." Linda gestured to her sprawled out posture, "happened."

"Well, I kinda walked home instead of getting a ride."

"Candace, why would you do something like that? Their house is almost three miles away from here!"

The redhead teen groaned again. "I know, I know, but I wanted to impress Jeremy, you know? I didn't want him to think I'm the kind of girl who lies around all day and does nothing."

Her mom sighed. "I'm sure Jeremy knows that you're a very active person, Candace."

"I suppose that's also why you came home so late," Lawrence remarked.

His wife glanced at the clock. "Oh my, it's almost nine! Candace, will you check on the boys? I haven't seem them in a while."

Like a hunting dog coming to a point, Candace's head snapped up. "Phineas and Ferb! I haven't busted them today!"

"And how is today different from any other time?" her mother wryly remarked.

The crazed teen heard none of this. In a flash, she was gone from her seat at the table and flying up the stairs. "They are _sooo_ busted! So busted!"

Distantly Candace heard a voice in her head telling her to come down, that Phineas and Ferb probably had already finished the invention of the day, considering that it was almost nighttime. As usual, though, he high strung teen ignored the voice of reason. She ignored the voice of reason a lot.

Making a beeline towards the boys' room, Candace had her phone prepped and her shouting voice at maximum level, expecting to see them doing something dangerous. She was rather disappointed. There was nothing in the room save Ferb, who was lying on his bed with his phone in hand and looking up at her with an eyebrow raised.

"What're you up to? And where's Phineas?"

Her brother held up his phone in response to the first question and shrugged in response to the second. Needless to say, this didn't satisfy Candace for one second.

"Whaddaya mean you don't know? You two are inseparable!"

"Not today, apparently," Ferb said in a tone heavy with sardonicism.

"Aha! I know! I bet that Phineas is around here somewhere, just, like, hidden or something! You two probably made some type of invisibility ray or something to hide from me so I don't bust you!"

Ferb rolled his eyes. "It's late, Candace. Our inventions don't usually last past the late afternoon. And, as you can see, I'm not invisible, am I?"

Her brother's infallible logic made Candace reconsider her accusation. "So you have no idea where Phineas is?"

"I don't know where he is specifically, but a couple of hours ago he said that he was planning something for Isabella, which explains why I'm not helping him. I gathered that he wanted to work on this particular project alone."

The teen's eyes widened. "Wait, hold on a second...planning something _romantic_?"

He shrugged. "It's a long story."

"I'm gone for a few hours and when I come back Phineas is doing this?" Candace exclaimed with confusion.

She contemplated what course of action she should take. She was torn between the part of her that wanted her brother to get together with Isabella, and the part of her that was itching to bust.

Her busting urge won out.

Stalking out of the room, she began heading towards the backyard, the usual domain of construction for the boys. Although her intention was to bust him, she also was curious as to exactly _what_ he was doing for the girl across the street.

Walking down the stairs and heading out the back door, Candace entered the backyard hands on hips. Her mouth was open, ready to reprimand her brother, but once again she was surprised. The only thing in the backyard was Phineas himself, sitting with his chin (the little chin that he had) on his knees. He was facing towards the Garcia-Shapiro residence with a roll of paper in his hands.

Well, this was unexpected. Candace just stood silently for a moment, observing him. Phineas sat adamantly in his position, seemingly unaware of the fact that it was almost dark out. Occasionally he sighed heavily, which led Candace to believe that something was weighing on his mind.

_What should I do?_ Candace thought awkwardly. _Technically he's not doing anything bustable, so that option's out of the question. I guess I _could_ see what's wrong with him... _This idea, though the most sensible, was a bit intimidating to the histrionic teen. She had never been good with 'that touchy-feely stuff' when it came to Phineas. That was Ferb's department. Still, he seemed kind of distressed...

"Phineas," she called out.

His head jerked up in shock at her presence. Turning around, he perused the yard in search of the source of the voice until he saw Candace's silhouette.

"Oh, hey Candace!" Phineas stood up from his position, shaking out his legs at the same time. Judging from this, he must have been sitting for a while. "How'd your day out with Jeremy go?"

"It was fine, but that doesn't matter. What're you doing out here alone? It's almost dark out."

Phineas glanced up at the dark purplish sky. "Huh. I didn't even notice. I guess I was too busy thinking about Isabella."

_HUH?_

"Wait, what now? You were sitting there thinking about Isabella? Why?"

"What's so strange about that? I think about Izzy all the time! Seems normal to me."

Candace shook her head with a mixture of pity and distaste. _He's so clueless._

"Anyways," Phineas continued, "I was going to build something for her–"

"AHA! I knew it! My busting instincts are never wrong! So where is it? Where're you hiding it? I can show Mom, and then you'll be caught for sure!" Candace craned her freakishly long neck, searching the yard for something really big. A useless action, considering that 1: she had already checked for any inventions, and 2: it was dark out.

"Uh, Candace, I didn't have a chance to construct it yet. By the time I finished drafting the blueprints, the supply store that we get all of our building materials from was closed."

"Well, why're you just sitting out here if you can't build anything? And what's with the sudden urge, you and Ferb usually do this stuff earlier during the day. Not that I'm condoning it!" Candace said hurriedly.

"Well, the thing is, me and Isabella went out to the movies earlier..."

Candace mentally squealed a little. Even if she was in busting mode, she couldn't help but swoon over the possibility of romance between her oblivious brother and the girl who had an obvious crush on him.

He continued in his recounting of the day. "...At first it was nice, but then it got kind of uncomfortable. Isabella was speaking really...cutely to me, and asking weird questions, like if I thought she was fascinating..." Phineas paused to scratch his head before resuming. "and...well, I kinda yelled at her and we left in the middle of the movie."

Now she sputtered. She did _not_ see that one coming.

"What made you yell at her? I mean, are you crazy or something? Seriously, Phineas..."

Phineas hung his head a bit, and Candace immediately felt bad. Her reaction was probably making him feel even worse.

Phineas sighed dejectedly. "I know, I know, it was really stupid of me. Ferb explained to me later why she was upset when I snapped at her."

Candace's jaw fell open.

"Wait...He-he TOLD YOU?!"

"Yep, he told me exactly how Isabella feels about me."

Candace's jaw was probably unhinged by now, judging from how slack it was. She was simply shocked that her non-talkative brother had revealed Isabella's long-kept secret, and even more shocked at how Phineas was taking it. She would have thought that after learning her secret he would be stunned, incoherent probably. Instead, he was acting like it was no big deal.

Eventually she found her voice somewhere in the depths of her shock. "And how did you-how _do_ you-feel about it?"

"Well, actually, I guess I feel the same way."

Okay, Candace was pretty sure that her old friend Kevin the talking zebra was about to appear, because there was _no way_ that this whole scene was anything but a hallucination.

Sure, she knew that deep down that Phineas harbored feelings for the black haired girl, but for him to come to the conclusion without any hint of denial, not a smidgeon of surprise...? Unbelievable.

After a few moments she was starting to doubt her conviction that this wasn't real. Her vision wasn't getting swirly and no proposing Jeremy's were in sight, which meant that this was actually happening.

"Candace? You all right there?" Phineas waved a hand in front of her face, but there was no reaction as far as he could perceive in the near darkness.

"Candace?"

"..."

"Candace Gertrude Flynn?"

The use of her dreadful middle name finally woke her from her stupor. Shaking her head twice and blinking thrice, Candace finally managed to process the information she had just been fed.

"Ach-I-w-is that why you're building whatever you're building? To express your-your apologetic feelings for not recognizing sooner?"

"Yeah, this all like a big apology! And I can't wait to sees just how sorry I am!"

Candace had gone catatonic again. With a shrug at his sisters's odd behavior Phineas made his way back into the house, leaving the door open for her when she decided to come in.

His thoughts turned to his project for Isabella, and his stomach did a little cartwheel just thinking about it.

_As soon as I can get the supplies, I'm going to make sure that tomorrow is the best day of Isabella's life! Hopefully when she sees how hard I worked for her, today will be a thing of the past!_

After he went upstairs and started getting ready for bed, Candace was still standing in the darkness, mouth as wide as the door Phineas had left open.

* * *

**I wonder what Phineas is planning? R&R, as always.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I meant to have this chapter done earlier, but a series of events that you probably don't care about has prevented me from submitting this earlier. So, anyways, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't need to write out some long-winded blurb, to tell you I don't own Phineas and Ferb.**

* * *

Chapter Three

Ferb had been dreaming about something involving a panda and some firecrackers when the sound of the alarm clock dragged him to the land of the living. He sat up with a bit of a yawn and blinked away the remnants of his strange dream.

Moving a sleeping Perry off of his bed, Ferb got up and began to ready himself for the day ahead. And then he paused. For some reason, the alarm clock was still blaring loudly. Hardly a remarkable fact, but it was strange in that instance because Phineas was always the one who turned it off in the mornings.

Glancing over at his brother's bed, Ferb's eyes widened a bit when he noticed something peculiar: Phineas wasn't there. The redhead's bed was made and noticeably Phineas-less, which suggested that he had been awake for some time. Ferb was confused for a second before remembering that he had been planning to do something for Isabella early in the morning.

Curiosity immediately seized the British boy as he recalled Phineas' vague explanation about what he was going to do for the girl across the street. He was concerned about what Phineas was planning, and more importantly, how Isabella was going to react to whatever it was.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Ferb grabbed his typical attire and headed to the bathroom. Ten minutes later he was jumping down the steps two at a time, itching to find his brother. Ferb bypassed the kitchen and went to the living room and opened the sliding glass door that led outside.

In the backyard lay a gigantic, opaque dome. It stood about half as high as the oak tree, but besides this there was nothing special about it. In fact, it was drab and lacking in complexity. Needless to say, these weren't adjectives that would usually describe any creation of Phineas'.

_What __is__ this?_ Ferb thought perplexedly. _Surely **this** can't be the only thing that Phineas built for Isabella!_

Scanning the yard for his brother, Ferb finally spotted him laying on the ground, hands behind his head in the typical relaxation pose.

"Hey Phineas," he called out.

Without sitting up, Phineas calmly greeted Ferb. "Morning, Bro."

"Morning. So..."

"Wondering about the dome?" Phineas guessed. "Sorry, but you'll have to wonder a bit longer."

Ferb's eyebrows shot up like twin rockets. Phineas _never_ refused to tell him anything. If he was hesitant to clue him in on the purpose of the object, its importance had to be monumental. Suddenly Ferb wasn't so sure if he should rule out a confession of love.

Seeing the "this must be big" look on Ferb's face, Phineas laughed reassuringly. "Don't worry, it's not like it's something life changing or anything. I'm just waiting 'til Isabella gets here to reveal everything."

This just made Ferb raise his eyebrows even higher with intrigue. "Well, this is a interesting change."

When Phineas just shrugged, Ferb joined him in his relaxed state on the ground. They watched the clouds meander across the sky for a few minutes and let the sun beat down on them before Phineas got up and started pacing back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

After a few miles worth of walking he finally threw up his hands in frustration.

"When is Isabella _coming_? On a normal day she'd have been here already!"

Ferb sighed. "I'm sure she'll be here soon."

"Yeah, but-!" Phineas took a deep breath and steadied himself. "Never mind. I'm just a little nervous, that's all."

"About what?" Ferb asked, knowing full well the reason for his anxiety.

"What if she doesn't like it? What if she's still mad about yesterday?"

"Well...if what you made comes from the heart, I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

"From the heart...?" Phineas repeated slowly.

"Yes, from the deepest, innermost, most _caring_ (he stressed this word heavily) part of yourself." That was the closest Ferb could get to telling Phineas "it better be romantic" without giving too much away.

"Caring..." he contemplated. "Yeah, I cared about building this well, if that's what you mean!"

_He's hopeless._

Silence reigned in the yard again as the two boys mused. With no activity to engage themselves in, the morning seemed especially long. Perry disappeared, as usual. Buford arrived, and then Baljeet. Everything was seemingly normal, but Isabella was still absent.

Finally, after almost two hours of waiting, the gate to the backyard creaked open and Isabella walked in.

Phineas hopped up in a flash and sped over to her, the epitome of excitement. "Isabella, you're here! For a while there, I almost thought you weren't coming today."

But it seemed that today Isabella was immunized to Phineas infectious cheerfulness. Without a hint of a smile, she stoically greeted him with a "Hey Phineas".

She mumbled greetings to the other three members of the yard, but Phineas immediately noticed how depressed she was. Something was clearly weighing on her, judging from the monotonous tone she spoke in and the absence of her perky demeanor. There was no doubt that this reserved behavior was due to yesterday's events at the theater.

A guilty feeling temporary flared up in him, but he quickly dispelled it. He wouldn't start this up again, as it would deter him from his mission to make Isabella feel better. Shaking away his self doubt, Phineas turned back to Isabella with a confident grin that overshadowed his anxiety.

"So...um...oh yeah. Well, today we've done something a bit different. I was feeling bad about what happened yesterday, so I decided to do this so I could make it up to you for yesterday."

Instead of looking excited, the Fireside girls' troop leader seemed distracted. "That's great, Phineas, but there's something I have to tell you."

"Oh...well, it can't wait? It'll be quick, I promise, and then you can say what you want to say."

"I guess so..." Isabella sighed.

"Great!" Smiling with anticipation, Phineas led Isabella over to the dome, with Ferb, Buford, and Baljeet trailing behind.

Whipping a remote out of his pocket, he pointed it at the dome.

"Behold...!"

He pressed the button on the controller, and instantly the dome expanded. Except it wasn't just a dome. The part that had just been visible was just the tip of a larger structure that lay hidden underneath the backyard.

A huge round hemisphere, similar to an observatory, rose out of the ground, taking the place of the smaller structure that had been there a few moments earlier.

Finally, after what seemed to be forever, the rising came to a halt and a dome taller than the Flynn-Fletcher household stood.

Ferb was in awe. "You built this in less than a couple of hours?"

"It wasn't that difficult," Phineas shrugged, "it was just a matter of constructing omit on a hydraulic platform and lowering it underground."

"But why'd you leave part of it uncovered? Or cover it at all, for that matter."

Phineas grinned. "I guess I just have a flair for the dramatic."

Buford grunted, unimpressed. "So, this is it?"

Heads swiveled the bully's way. "It's just like a big bowl! What's the big deal? What's Girly gonna do with it?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to explain," Phineas said sheepishly. "You see guys, this...is a movie theater."

"Excuse me?" said Baljeet in disbelief. "Did you say a movie theater? Because unless my eyes are deceiving me, this is _not_ what a movie theater looks like."

"That's because the movie theater's on the inside. I used the basic projector setup found in a typical movie theater, except with a few added features. The seats emit waves that the brain interprets and transmits to the body, which means that all of the emotions you feel when you watch a movie are multiplied by ten.

"The sound system is unique too because the speakers are placed on the dome itself. The sound fx are all magnified and intensified, plus the dome helps with acoustics. And the best part is it comes with free popcorn!"

Phineas looked at Isabella gleefully, expecting her to share his excitement. He was shocked when he saw that Isabella looked even more depressed than before. His smile was frozen on his face as he tried to understand what he had done to upset her.

"Isabella, what's wrong? Is it not nice enough? I can make it better, and bigger! Let me just-" Phineas was in panic mode now. _No no no, I can't make her sad again! I'm so useless, I should've made this a hundred times, no, a THOUSAND times better, this isn't good enough fo-_

"It's fine, Phineas," Isabella said quietly.

His self berating stopped in a heartbeat. "Wait, you like it? Than what's bothering you?"

Isabella sighed shakily. "Look, all of this is really thoughtful. The theater, all the effort you put into this for me. I appreciate it, but...I just can't."

"Wait, you can't? Why not? I thought that you would want me to make it up to you for ruining everything yesterday at the movies!"

"See, Phineas, that's just it. I don't care about Space Adventures or Stumbleberry Finkbat or any of that (Phineas' mouth dropped open at this revelation). I only asked you to those movies because I wanted to spend time with you."

Phineas stared at her in confusion. "You spend time with me every day! What's so different about a trip to the movies?"

Isabella shook her head slightly. _He still doesn't get it. _"It's because we're alone. Whenever me and you are here, there's always someone else. And that's not to say that I don't like hanging out with everybody else! It's great being with Ferb and Baljeet and Buford and all the members of my troop, and even Irving sometimes. Sometimes, though, I just want some alone time with you."

Isabella paused and took a moment to shut her eyes tightly for a quick second. She opened them again but made sure to keep her gaze to the ground. If she looked at Phineas now, her resolve would probably fade away.

"Phineas...I like you. And not just as a friend. I-I'm in love with you. For so long I waited for you to notice, and I guess I expected you to feel the same way about me. But now i know that you don't." Now a tear trickled down Isabella's face, but she forced herself to finish.

"And you don't have to pretend you do. I can understand that you don't think about me that way. But I need some time alone for a few days. I don't mean that I don't want to see you ever again, and I don't want this to ruin our friendship. But I need some time to-to come to terms with it, I guess. I just wanted you to know..."

Isabella finally trailed off, painfully raising her head up to look at Phineas. He looked shocked, so shocked that he couldn't even speak. She didn't even try to elicit a response from him, knowing that it would be useless.

Turning away from Phineas, Isabella slowly made her way to her house, silently crying the whole way. She didn't know if she would be able to let go of her feelings, but she had to try.

For his sake.

~•~•~•~•~

Phineas' was literally paralyzed. His mouth was open in almost comical surprise, along with his eyes. Even though the boy's pupils were dilated, he didn't seem to be taking in anything around him.

He didn't notice that Baljeet, Buford, and Ferb were all standing in front of him with looks of concern. He didn't notice the theater that loomed behind him, its presence scornful and mocking in its failure. Heck, he didn't even notice that Perry was missing again.

"Isabella...Isabella...Isabella _LIKES ME?!_"

His first sensible statement in more than three minutes, and it was greeted with uncomfortable silence. All of his friends, even Buford, were a bit hesitant to respond to Phineas, considering that the circumstances were a bit tense.

After an long silence that was unnatural from anybody but Ferb, Baljeet spoke up.

"Well, Phineas...I believe that the correct term would be 'love', not 'like'.

This wasn't the most prudent of responses, but Phineas was so distracted he didn't even hear. There were so many questions buzzing around in his head like angry bees, but he finally settled the one with the simplest answer.

"How long has she...liked me...like that?" Phineas asked hesitantly. He was almost afraid to say those words out loud, as the concept on Isabella's crush on him was still too unbelievable to wrap his head around yet.

"A few years."

"A few _years!? _ _A few years?!_" Phineas yelled frantically.

Ferb winced a bit. He hadn't known what to expect once Phineas eventually found out how Isabella felt about him, but this was certainly _not_ one of the scenarios he had predicted. From the way that he was burying his face in his hands and murmuring "A few years?" under his breath, this was genuinely upsetting to him. Whether Phineas was like this due to the circumstances of the revelation or just because Isabella had feelings for him, Ferb had no idea.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Phineas asked with desperate confusion.

The green haired boy glanced at Buford and Baljeet. The bully had his arms crossed with an expectant look on his face while the nerd was nervously twisting his hands together. Ferb sighed.

"Maybe it was because of the way that you're acting now," he said slowly.

Phineas opened his mouth to ask Ferb what he was talking about, but then he paused. Taking a moment to observe his behavior, he had to concede that he was acting a bit out of character. "I guess that it does seem kind of dramatic, But I had NO IDEA that she...felt like that. How could she have hidden it so well? She's liked me for so long and I've never seen any sign at all!"

As soon as Phineas said this Baljeet and Buford spluttered aloud in disbelief.

"Wait a second, so you're tellin' me that you didn't catch any of the hints that girly dropped?" Buford said, shaking his head in disdain.

Baljeet cut in before Phineas could respond. "How is that possible? You really missed _all_ of her gestures? The many times that she has asked you to go places alone, how she often compliments you and no one else, the instances where she spaces out around you? That level of obliviousness is beyond comprehension"

Phineas frowned. "Wait a minute...so you guys knew? And Candace too, probably?"

Too late, the two boys realized their gaffe. Ferb decided to step in and end his brother's confusion one and for all.

"Yes, we all know. And Candace, and the Fireside girls, and Mom and Dad. All of Danville probably knows, honestly. The reason why none of us told is because of this whole situation that's arisen. Isabella's hurt, you're confused, and now she thinks that you don't like her like she likes you."

"Wh-why would she think that? I've done nothing-"

Ferb interjected before Phineas could continue. "What about yesterday? When you shrugged her off, to Isabella it was like you were saying "I don't like you romantically and I never will."

"But what if it wasn't true! What if I did like her?"

Ferb raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"

This caught Phineas off guard, even though he should have seen the question coming. After a few seconds of silence, he hesitantly answered, choosing his words carefully.

"I don't know... I've never thought of Isabella like that!"

"Well, Phineas you will have to decide soon," Baljeet chimed in.

"Well, what am I supposed to do? I don't know what _that's_ like! I thought I would be dealing with romance in a few years, not now! And now I'm forced to find out, or else Izzy won't be my friend!"

"You're jumping to conclusions, Phineas. Isabella didn't say that, she just said-"

"Yeah, she just said that she needed some time to herself. Which means that she doesn't want to see me anymore."

"Isabella isn't like that. She wouldn't force you to like her, and not be your friend if you don't. She just needs to come to grips with it like she said."

"But Ferb...I don't know if I can deal with that! Who knows how long she'll want to be away from me? What if every time she sees me she starts crying? You said that she's had a crush on me for a few years. How's she going to get over it in a couple of days?"

"Phineas...I think that you're blowing this out of proportion..." Baljeet said hesitantly. He could already see where this was going.

"No, I'm-" Suddenly, mid-sentence, the inventor froze. Then, slowly, his expression brightened. All the occupants of the yard recognized the look on his face: Phineas had an idea.

"Don't do it, Dinnerbell. Whatever you're thinkin' about, don't do it."

But Phineas was past convincing at this point. Excitement now blanketed his previously distraught demeanor, and his brain was in full gear. Whatever he was planning to do regarding Isabella, it was, in his mind, a perfect idea.

A _grin was on his face as he turned to his brother. "Ferb...I know what I'm going to do today!"

With a confidence borne of desperation, Phineas ran into the garage at top speed and emerged with his trusty drafting materials.

Ferb sighed. _This is seeming _awfully_ familiar..._

* * *

**Yes, Ferb, Yes it is. As always, feedback is appreciated.**


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